I didn’t see the movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory until it came to HBO. A very popular (or at least well hyped) children’s movie, a playful romp with magic and chocolate and a moral to boot, what could I possibly find offensive about such a movie?

Plenty, as it turns out.

Charlie’s family is poor. Yet there is a huge factory visible on the horizon that employs no one from Charlie’s neighborhood. Charlie’s granddad once worked there, until Wonka replaced him and everyone else with the Oompa-Loompas. This is normal enough that no one remarks on it.

Can the Oompa-Loompas be classified as illegal aliens? It isn’t clear if Wonka pays them at all, are they in fact slave labor? Of course, the little guys are much better off in Wonka’s employ than they were living (free) in their rain forest. Like children they are, the little scamps. They love to perform for an audience. Hmm, I’ve heard that before.